Gone With Thy Wind
by Jet-kun
Summary: A romance fic. Why has Tiger hid his positive emotions? Well, because he lost them in the first place...and in this fic, he finds them all over again.
1. Morose Valentine's Day

Author's Notes: Wow, what mood am I in to write a fic such as this...well, the usual Disclaimers apply. Me no own Tiger. Me own Rosa, though. And yes, this is a futile attempt for romance for Tiger. So hit me for tryin to set him up with someone. ^^;;;   
Oh yeah, I'm using two of my poems (which I can't upload here separately, a pain to change cause the poems' pages have black b/g and white font, cause I upload them to a site of my own ^^:;;; In case yer curious, my poetry and fic page's at [http://www.crosswinds.net/~dragnier/index.html][1], k?) as well to mark his feelings in the beginning and end...the poem at the beginning, Fading Memories, and the poem at the end of this part, Love's Legacy, both still belong to me. Got that?   
  
  
  


**_Gone With Thy Wind_**   
_A Morose Valentine's Day- Part 1_   
_By Tiyanu_

  
  
  
  


_ How I so hated my memories. My past...my present...and what's a future? But...I have to accept they weren't all bleak..._   
  
  


_Gone are the memories of our childhood_   
_Long vanished in the winds of time_   
_It is difficult to tell if I should_   
_Know if any of them were worth a dime._

_The visions be comforting_   
_Yet viewed our immaturity_   
_How we have changed over the years_   
_Into triumph from obscurity_

_Have we retained any of our traits_   
_That created us both_   
_So that I am still me_   
_And you are still you?_

_How can we tell_   
_When we meet later in life_   
_That I will recognize you_   
_And you recognize me?_

_Have we changed too often_   
_Too much, too little?_   
_Enough change for a balance_   
_Not confusing as a riddle?_

_I can only think_   
_Of one fact that will stay true_   
_That who I really love_   
_Will eternally be you._

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


"Where's the next place, Genki?" the tiny pinkling asked with enthusiasm.   
"The locals said the next town of Evermeet's north...past that mountain." The boy fingered toward the distant polar peak, beyond the towering sea of trees.   
"Here we go again..." sighed the gruff lupine, prepping his ears for the usual call from the hyperactive child.   
"Down with the baddies!"   
"Chi!" chimed in Mocchi. 

The usual traveling formation of the legendary Searchers pushed onward; Genki and Mocchi taking point, the young protector of the Magic Stone, Holly, beside the towering stone giant, Golem, as was the pessimistic yet protective eyeball Suezo. The sly yet overconfident rabbit, Hare, was bringing up the rear, while the usually fierce yet impulsive Tiger remained along the perimiter of the formation, distant enough from everyone else, but close enough as to maintain his aquatic blue eyes upon everyone else and their actions, most of all, Hare.   
"Hey, what's the day today?" Popped a random question out of nowhere by Suezo.   
"I think...Valentine's Day," responded Holly, before the realization finally hit her. 

_Valentine's Day was the same day I met...her._

"What you get for Holly, chi?" whispered Mocchi to Genki.   
"Um..." The embarrassed kid blushed a deep crimson. He completely forgot all about her present. 

_Coincidence, maybe. But the memory never fades...and never will..._

"Oh Genki," she giggled, "I didn't know you cared for me _that_ deeply..." 

_ ...and I miss her already. Has it really been over a year...? It was the same day I lost my brother...Why did I lost the both of them..._

"Well, at least **_I_** got you something," quipped the chestnut-furred rabbit, and pulled out a box of chocolates from, seemingly, out of nowhere. "For you, chere."   
"Oh Hare," the girl blushed again in surprise.   
"That was MY box of chocolates, Hare!" scolded Suezo. "I was going to give that to her!"   
"Suuure you did," Hare rolled his eyes in complete sarcasm, not admitting that he really did pilfer the gift. 

_Maybe I should go visit the old haunt for awhile...it's not that far away from here..._

"You saw it, Tiger! Didn't he snatch my box just to make himself look good in front of Holly?!" Suezo turned to the blue lupine, who was apparently lost in thought, as nary a sarcastic remark sounded out of his mouth.   
"...uh, Tiger?" Now Hare noticed the daydreaming wolf, and thought quickly of how he would arouse the wolf from his stature.   
"...Huh?" The lupine blinked open his eyes, and noticed the entire formation staring at his peculiar silence. "What?"   
Genki places his hands on his hips, looking skeptically at the wolf. "You were spacing out for a minute. Something up?"   
He simply shook his head despite their disbelief. "No...it's nothing..." 

At nightfall, the weary Searchers set up camp a little ways off the main road. Night had quickly fallen as soon as the sun had completed it journey to the western horizon. And in the usual, everyone fell asleep instantly.   
Well, not quite as fast for Tiger. 

The icy-blue wolf trotted away from the still-crackling bonfire and tent. He slinked away slowly so as to not draw attention to himself. '_Not far from here_,' his mind reminded him, '_just go in and go out...go in, and go out.._.' 

After Tiger considered the distance between him and the campsite was sufficient, he broke into a run, swiftly yet soundlessly brushing through the undertow of the emerald grasses...   
He slowed to a trot as he neared the sapphire lake several steps ahead of him. 

"Long time since we last met in our hiding place..." the lupine muttered to himself. "It was as black as the infinity of space at that time...We could view the stars and the moon no matter where we lain our eyes at the sky. And..." He turned his head to the tiny isle at the center of the vacant waters. A lone, topaz rose bloomed, basking in the light of the glaring moon, as if thriving upon its vitality alone. "I gave you the rose..."   
_ It was quite fitting_, he thought, _because after all, her name was after the flower...___

_ We met a year ago in this exact place. It was our first date, so to speak...well, but under difference circumstances. My brother, Gray Wolf, and I were looking for a pack to join up; after repeated encounters with the humans, it was evident we couldn't survive with just the two of us.___

"Rosa..." 

_ We hid in the bushes observing you; we heard rumors that your pack was one of the best in the continent, and we didn't want to pass up this opportunity to join. You, alone, were gazing longingly at the misty blue, never a thought or sense active in reality...or so we thought._   
_ But we were had. Unmistakeable growls of discontent interrupted our careful plan of attack; we were the ones that took the bait. Gray Wolf insisted he handle the incoming horde, while I would combat the leader._   
_ And whoever thought a girl like you could command such impeccable strategic defenses like that?___

_ My brother was doing well against the packs of green and liliac lupines; whilst 'she' and I were trying to gain an edge over each other. I was distracted; not because that your fighting style was equal to mine, I couldn't hide this completely new emotion I was feeling while watching your movements...it was...a new type of warmth, much like I felt while I had my brother, but completely different. But it also...scared me._   
_ That was why I could never best you._   


On the other side of the crystalline lake...   


"_Feels like that night all over again..._" 

A fiery lupine stood in reminiscence upon the edge of the still waters. Her eyes flared with an indistinguishable essence of flame, void of fear yet filled with a sense of melancholy. Emanating from her very soul, a vitality of defiance towards the philosophies of life and death itself, instead relying on the focus of the present, the one and only. A product of genetic mutation, inheriting features of her sub-class that was not normally possible, she kept constant warmth with the aid of her ruby dragon wings...a feature very unlike to most wolves. An emerald pendant hung from her neck, the only reminder of her now-extinct emotions of love and eternal bliss. 

"_Can't help it, though. After all, it's been only a year..._" 

_...and my only year of pure bliss, at that._

Breathing a depressed sigh, she shook her head at the crystalline reflection of her visage, glimmering on the watery surface. The hybrid denied that she was ever beautiful to anyone's eyes, ever since her birth; after all, a winged lupine was never thought to become possible, at least naturally. 

"_So wherfore thee now, o wingless blue prince...?_" She chuckled a bit at the nickname she gave her mate; after all, she could relate to her stubborness and impulsive behavior. "_As I was back then...just like you.._." The fiery lupine gazed wistfully upon the lake, wonderning of past and present, never a stray thought of the future ahead of her... "_I've no future without you, so what's the use of thinking about it...?_" Her eyes blinked at a dark shadow on the other side of the crystal surface of the waters, in a shape clearly deceiving her mind, but betraying its identity to her very core. Squinting her eyes for a closer perception of the unknown, a gasp and a shriek sounded from the top of her lungs.   
"What...? You...can't be...alive!" 

"...Huh?" The icy lupine raised his head toward the faint outburst. "Hey! Who are you?!" He couldn't quite perceive the shadowy outline of the winged creature on the far side of the lake, but assumed quickly it was one of his most hated enemy's servants. Tiger swiftly dashed fast toward the supposed 'enemy', his paws never sinking below the rippled water... 

"_This is impossible! You can't be alive!_", the hybrid kept telling to herself in her mind. But he was in right in front of her eyes; that she couldn't deny. "No...you're just a ghost...to haunt me! Begone!" With those final words breathed, she unfolded her wings and leapt onward to meet her adversary at the center of the water... 

Both lupines leaped upward without a second thought, and chanted their trademark attack, "TORPEDO!" Streaks of lightning lanced out, but never struck their targets; the bolts clashed into a single space together, which resulted in a blinding flash of light to illuminate the area for miles. Passing each other in mid-air, they both gave slight glances toward each other, each only intent on the fight and never on themselves. The wolves landed on opposite sides of the disturbed lake, backs to each other, and both sharing the same channel of thought. _Why did we both choose the same attack? _It wasn't often two could counteract their blows at the same moment of time. Neither made any motion toward each other; they stood gaping each other at the full realization of their actions.   
_That pendant...and those wings...it's inconceivable!,_ Tiger breathed in an inaudible whisper.   
_He...shares the same exact appearance...and that scar... _the scarlet wolf muttered in the same moment.   
Denial of the recognition of the others raged in their souls; it was impossible to cope with the new wave of emotions and remain in a maintained train of thought for the both of the lupines. They had long rejected each other upon separation; the truth in the past no longer applied to the present. Now the only option they decided was to lay rest to the past, once and for all.. 

Tiger rushed toward his winged enemy with incredible speed, emotional strife and fury raging with each step his snowy paws took.   
She moved in the same force of motion, this time planning on a different tactical plan of attack. 

"BLIZZARD!"   
"FIRE!" 

He brought forth ice...and she countered with her flame. Both of their strikes dissipated in vain, and it seems every effort that took to killing each other was highly for naught.   
As their last desperate effort, they kept in constant motion of their stride toward each other. Neither of them slowed, and impact was imminent...the question was; who would be the one to dominate? 

_This is my last chance_, Tiger thought in the fated moment. _But why does this feel so similar...?___

But that was a futile understatement, for in the exact second this thought was created, he felt the crushing impact of her tackle upon his skull. Resistance to unconsciousness was not an option, as the blue lupine fell into it immediately.   
He lost the battle, and at the same time, felt he lost everything all over again. Before he was engulfed by the blackness of sleep, his last thought was,   
  
_This is how you won my heart, Rosa, before it was taken away._   


  
  
  


_Amidst the appealing fame_   
_A feeling lies here the same_   
_As yesterday, as last Monday_   
_As last week, as the year of the beak.___

_There is an emotion long forgotten,_   
_Long forsaken, long shunned_   
_An emotion that penetrates the ecstasy,_   
_The pride, the proud, and the content.___

_An emotion that pierced my will into two_   
_An emotion that I can never destroy_   
_Emotion, one that is sought and takes advantage of the unconformity_   
_Love.___

_I've attained everything, yet own nothing_   
_I've infinite wisdom, yet crippling intelligence_   
_I've perceived every bit of feeling except for that one._   
_And I regret that I've this weakness today.___

_I thought I was invulnerable_   
_To its piercing arrows of unmistakable truth,_   
_To the full realization of the secret of life,_   
_Until I found her.___

_Why did the answer stand in front of me?_   
_Why did I not avert my gaze on that fated day?_   
_Why did I continue to stare, admire, gaze,_   
_Why did I feel weakness to this one and only?___

_She was standing there,_   
_And I was the only one that knew_   
_And I was the only one that saw_   
_The full comparison between me and her.___

_To me, I was nothing_   
_To me, she was everything._   
_To me, she was the missing piece of the puzzle_   
_Of the endless void that plagued my soul entity.___

_To me, this was my love's legacy_   
_To me, it was a personal quest for eternity_   
_For eternity never lasts forever_   
_Only as long as the legacy's love travels on.___

_To me, this would become the greatest challenge_   
_To me, for me, to talk to her, and only to her._

  
  


End of Part 1. 

   [1]: http://www.crosswinds.net/~dragnier/index.html



	2. Reunion of Memories; Rediscovered Love

Author's Notes: Why do I have to repeat my Disclaimers...? AHEM, I own no characters from Monster Rancher, but I own Rosa. Got that?! 

This is the 2nd part of my romance fic, which will explain in detail of Tiger and Rosa's past together. But still, I'm wondering; am I keeping Tiger in-character for this fic to make sense? R+R if you think I'm not or I am, I'm curious...   
Two more poems are used: at the beginning is Differences; the ending uses my poem Dunes of Sorrow. Both are copyright© Jasper Belen, a.k.a ME, got that?! Ok then...

In case Part 1 didn't make sense, note that Tiger did NOT die. You think I'd be evil like that? Weeeeeelll... *evil grin* I would, but I couldn't. Ya know? ^_~   
I'll make Part 3, soon as I know what else to show, ya know? I just want to post short parts, one at a time... ^.^   
  
  
  


**_Gone With Thy Wind_**   
_A reunion of memories and rediscovered love- Part 2_   
_By Tiyanu_

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


[This is from Tiger's consciousness.]   
  


_ This I felt eternally._

_ Among the illusion_   
_Of the mists of our souls_   
_Enveloping us_   
_Is truth exposed in the clearing…_

_This isn't how I really feel_   
_This isn't for real_   
_How do I feel of reality?_   
_How do I feel about you?_

_You are you,_   
_I am me_   
_Is that how we really_   
_Want it to be?_

_No matter how I_   
_Feel for you,_   
_There's nothing, truly that_   
_I can do._

_I hate to admit it_   
_But it may be true_   
_I wasn't really_   
_Meant for you…_

_With all the differences_   
_That we both see,_   
_Maybe we weren't just_   
_Meant to be…_

_ I wonder how long...?_

_*****_

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The impact of her actions did not affect her until it happened.

But was it really unstoppable? Was it really unavoidable?

And if it wasn't her blow that would kill her lover, the emotional wound could perform the same job.

At the very sight of him thrown back from her rush, the scarlet lupine felt as if she awoke from a treacharous nightmare, for after she opened her eyes to the vision of her love, sprawled and profusely bleeding from the direct head bash, her first thought was,

_ I woke up from one nightmare, only to fall in another._

*** 

"No...NO!" Rosa rushed to the fallen lupine, checking for any fatal injuries that would confirm her worse fears. His head was slightly bleeding, and there were no other marks on his body that seemed to leak of the crimson blood. _It's only a minor head wound_, she tried to calm herself, _he's going to be all right..._

She placed the unconscious ice wolf on her back and began the brief soujourn back to her camp, a short trip on the opposite side of the lake, a good distance from the Searchers' own camp, who were all unaware that Tiger disappeared...except for one. 

*** 

"Tiger?"   
The distraught rabbit looked frantically from his perch upon the bare apple tree. Not usually did he care for minor details of the environment around him, least of all 'him', but something was not correct of this particular hour...   
"Where'd you go?"   
He leapt from his sleeping perch, and had to decide, '_Should I go at it alone to find him, or wake up everybody else...?_' 

'_Matter of fact, why do I care...?_' 

That question was more haunting to him than the last. 

*** 

Inside a hidden cave, apart from roads miles away... 

"This is all my fault..."   
Rosa gazed worriedly at the sleeping blue lupine, who was lain upon a makeshift bed of straw and wood. After ensuring that her mate was completely covered within the tattered blankets, she took her seat next to the warmth of the campfire. "I wish I didn't have to do that..." she muttered remorsefully. "Why do I have to be so damn distrusting...?" 

_Ugh...I can't move a muscle._

Tiger's ears perked up slightly at the familiar tone of his lover's voice, though could do nothing more than listen. He was unable to open his eyes, nor move any of his joints...the agonizing pain would increase in his head if he did. He silently sighed and decided to simply rest his body... 

"But I'm sure he's been through worse," Rosa spoke out to no one. "That scar on his face proves it." 

_Yeah_, he thought in reply, _I've been through experiences like that._

She breathed a hopeless sigh and threw another piece of kindling in the bonfire, her back still turned to the listening ice wolf. "I wish I stayed with him to protect him..." 

_I couldn't do much even with my brother...or even feel new emotions that were completely foreign to me._

"By his side...forever." 

_That's how I wanted it too._

Rosa fondled with the emerald necklace around her neck, the gem glimmering in the firelight. It emitted an aura of sadness of its own, despite its great exterior beauty, as if sympathizing with the two lovers' strife. "This...was proof of us. This...was proof...that you would still be alive...the very memory that never fades...this was proof: our love would never perish, no matter who tries to put an end to it." 

_It came from my heart...evidence of us, the both of us._

"And just like the bandit that you are..." 

_Yeah, I knew I stole that necklace from someone. But that was all I could take. I know there's better treasures worthy of you._

"You stole my heart..." 

_...and you stole mine._

"And that was when..." 

_ ...we fell in love._

"Yeah...the best years of our lives, weren't they..." 

_The very epitome of happiness..._

*** 

In the past years of Tiger's life, about five years ago.... 

  
  


"Is that really her, brother?"   
"If our sources weren't lying, Gray, that's got to be the leader."   
"Are you still that surprised it's a female?"   
"...don't get your hopes up." 

Two observing wolves hid in the greenery of the tall bushes, their eyes spying on the flame-furred lupine watching, daydreamingly, over the solitary crystalline lake. One was blue-furred, a rare purebred of his race. The other was silver, an even more rare type of the species; it was very unheard of a silver Tiger. 

"What's the plan, Tiger?"   
"I'll go and talk to her, but easy...you just keep watch over anyone that might try to ambush us."   
"Right, bro." 

The icy wolf started to leave, but his ears were raised over suspicious growling that seemed to be coming from behind them... 

"I think we've been had, brother."   
"Huh?" He spun his head to the source, and found out the exact reasons. 

Three other hybrid Tigers, all of different colors, were snarling accusingly at the duet of the overtaken lupines. At the corner of the blue wolf's eye, he could see the fiery one's eyes glaring at them as well. _How did we get ambushed?_, Tiger thought in discontent.   
"Change of plans," he stated to his silver sibling, "I got the leader; you're taking on these three. Go!" Then he took off from the bush, to meet the once-dreaming red wolf in mock combat. Gray Wolf simply shook his head. "Just great...you're the one getting the girl, and I have to babysit these three dodos..." 

*** 

Back to the present... 

  
  
  


_ I lost badly in that melee_, Tiger thought in reminiscence. He then slowly opened his eyes...had he fallen asleep? He then looked over to the lain hybrid near him, and the gradually deteriorating campfire. Slowly rising to his feet, he leapt out of the straw bed, pulled the blanket that he was covered with his teeth, and placed it over the sleeping winged lupine. He settled down on the floor next to his mate, nuzzling her face ever so slightly under the covers, and licked her softly on her cheek, so as not to awaken her.   
"I never got to say this to your face," he whispered in the ears of Rosa, "but..." 

"_I love you._" 

As he closed his own eyes to sleep, he missed the ruby lupine secretly smile in content upon the three words.   
  
  


_ As frail winds cycle the sands_   
_And the continual withering of creatures lost_   
_Venture onward in the infinity of time_   
_Life hath no meaning with hope non-existant._

_Careless it remains_   
_A permanent scar upon the earth_   
_A living mistake_   
_Which shall never pass away._

_As does my spirit,_   
_Wondering and searching_   
_Desiring correction, seeking redemption_   
_For the unpardonable crime for existing._

_My hope fades with the vaporizing water_   
_Of an oasis long sentenced to death_   
_Can't adapt, can't relent_   
_Can't submit to the harshness of its surroundings._

_Where giving up is a stone's throw away_   
_Where continuing on is a futile statement to say_   
_Where I voyage onward for answer_   
_Where my love for her remains untouchable_   
_Like the mirage before the oasis of paradise._


	3. Separation

Author's Notes: Disclaimers are back at Chap. 1, ya know. Monster Rancher belongs to me not, Rosa belongs to me Yes. 

Now, after Part 2 has occured...I'm actually going to write of how Tiger and Rosa parted ways in the past. Get out the tissue... O.o;;;   
Oh, and only one poem at the end, again belonging to me. Got that?   
And one more thing. Like, DO I PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR FLAMES? Hell no I don't, so don't even put that crap on me by spamming up my reviews with any insults.   
  
  


**_Gone With Thy Wind_**   
_Separation- Part 3_   
By Tiyanu   
  
  


*** 

The past.... 

*** 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


"Are you sure there's a better land beyond this icy tundra, Rosa?"   
"We've got nowhere else to go, Tiger."   
"I'm not complaining of the cold...just that I never expected to actually venture into it." 

A troupe of hybrid Tigers, only one of them a purebred, were traveling among the frozen wasteland of the desolate northern heights. They were in search of a paradise, devoid of humans yet abundant of foods galore. Finally realizing they could not get away with stealing for long, the pack had no other choice but to search for a fresh start elsewhere. Rosa called themselves Freedom Fighters, though not in the sense of justice that one might think at first.   
"How many more miles to go?" asked one of the hybrids, a green Dino/Tiger, curiously asked.   
"Since we started about a week ago," the silver Gray Wolf responded, "should be another three days past this glacier."   
"I can't wait for all the sweets that awaits us," another hybrid pack member chimed in, "Think of how our lives would change from now...!"   
"Wish this place wasn't cold though," a Hare/Tiger griped, "not all of us are used to such extremites in climate conditions..." 

Leading the pack, was the fiery-spirited Rosa, with the purebred lupine Tiger, walking paw to paw next to each other. His blood brother, Gray Wolf, was walking alongside them as well, but since he had risked enough teasing the two wolves beforehand, he decided to play it safe and stay amongst the pack. He, like many others of Rosa's pack, knew as clear as day of the very intimate relationship the sapphire and ruby lupines were having, yet only he had the pure audacity to tease them about it; it was no big deal to Rosa, but Tiger was a little embarrased even further than she was, after all, this was his little brother that was rubbing this in his face! At first, the icy lupine was a tad edgy about going public of their newfound love, but the mates knew they would rather be found out sooner than later, and both admitted their feelings for their clan to hear, to deter any suspicious of treason or betrayal within the dedicated group. It was only the sapphire wolf's little brother that actually caught any mutual acts; he remained silent of them, for the most part, but for how long, was the primary cause of concern. 

Only one incident, and the one that caused the lovers to confession, was during a failed act of protection. An ebony Black Golem was attacking a pair of humans, both young and recently married, and Tiger was the first to view, clear as day, watch the 'enigma' crush the two with a blood-stained fist. In a burst of rage, he desired the assassin's death, as with any other that would threaten his loved ones, and unleashed his pure animosity in the blasts of his thunder...   
The sapphire lupine searched the corpses of the badly mauled humans, knowing they had already met their maker, and found only one item of interest; an undamaged emerald-gem pendant. Retrieving it carefully, he placed it over the neck of his lover...never noticing his fellow clan mates crooning and howling with delight at the public act of kindness, a trait that was thought to become totally out of character of the blue warrior....if compared to the present day. 

"I wonder what's on the other side of this wasteland," Rosa said wistfully. "Will we find our true refuge of retreat...or are we falling deeper into the plunges of the humans and the tyranny of Moo...? Are we always going to be on the move like this...? Why...?" Her audible thoughts were interrupted by her mate; he licked her face playfully in an attempt to cheer her up, and he nuzzled her neck in content. At first, the red hybrid could only gaze at his spirited blue eyes and wonder why he was not as downtrodden as the rest of the pack; _was Tiger really this adept to the cold? Or was it already in his nature before he met me?_ But she appreciated this gesture of kindness, and returned the favor with her own lick and nuzzle. "Don't you worry," the blue lupine reassured her, "we've made it this far thanks to you, I'm sure we'll go the distance and finally be free. Just like..."   
"...the wind," she finished with a cheerful smile. 

_ But even the wind itself is a prisoner of the earth, mere mortal._

Tiger blinked in surprise of the dark thought that he was unsure where exactly did it originate. Surely, he wasn't going this psychotic. Or was it just a figment of imagination that somehow blended within reality...?   
Rosa glanced at her mate, eyes gleaming with worry as she immediately saw his sudden moment of discontent. "Is something wrong...?" 

Ahead, shadows of unknown figures began their approach to the pack... 

"...Over there!" He pointed a forepaw towards the coming evil, sensing the aura of malice and deceit around their newfound enemies. The others drooped low into battle positions, for they knew who seeked their destruction. 

"...It's Moo." 

The dark, gold-armored giant himself, had come to deter the plans of the Freedom Fighters. "Ah...the infamous little band is a rather pitiful number of seven," he taunted to the clan. "A terrible waste of good monsters....that could have pledged their allegiance to me, instead." He stroked his chin - or what it looked like his chin - with an earthly brown claw, then added, "What am I saying...? These weaklings serve in my army...?"   
"Who you callin weak?!" Rosa stepped in defense. She crouched into a battle stance, all others followed in repertoire. The caped demon simply cackled at the feeble attempt to protect their pride.   
"I think you will become a great service in my entourage," he hissed in the most vile of tones, pointing a finger at the ruby lupine, "as a baddie."   
Hearing those simple words marked a new anger inside the icy wolf, who leapt in front of his mate in defense. "Not if I have anything to say about it!" growled the angry lupine, and sprung to action.   
"Out of the way...!" In the last second, the malevolant lord simply clawed him away like a mere housefly, and the blue lupine flew away, sprawled into the thick snow...already, his face was bleeding from a gash on his left eye, leaking heavily with crimson blood. Everyone, especially Rosa, could not believe their very eyes at that moment of time...especially her.   
At the instant shock of seeing her lover at the brink of death, a shriek of fury resonated from herself, piercing even Moo's very essence... Her own clan members cowered under the very sound of her rage, as did the dark armored one's minions... In a rush of scarlet flames, she breathed out intensely at her adversaries, vengence and sadness mixed in the attack, a deadly combination of emotions...especially when it came to combat.   
In that instant, lost discs immediately formed within the tense heat...unfortunately, Moo was not among one of them, to the Freedom Fighters' dismay; however, he did not survive the attack unscathed. But he was not their primary concern at the moment; they were tending to their fallen lupine...   
After her fury had dissipated, the flame-colored lupine breathed heavily, her body unable to withstand the sudden loss in power, and fell unconsciously into the thick snow, barely visible. The other Tiger hybrids whirled to her at the instant she connected to the ground, and only then their hatred went fully untamed...   
All leapt toward the sneering master of the darkness, vowing for vengence for their lost leaders... 

...but what remained of them were a small gravestone of discs, failed in their vain attempt for restitution...except for one. 

The silver wolf bled severly, pain coursing through every part of his bones. He knew that he could resist no longer, though he wondered why had he not entered death, just like his comrades in arms yet... 

_Brother...Rosa...everyone is..._

But then, he felt a tremendous hand lift him from the stained snowy ground, and from then on, he could remember no more.   
All that Gray Wolf could accept, before completely lost from his memory, was that everyone was no longer in his heart. 

*** 

Back to the present... 

*** 

In the brink of the dawn... 

  
  


Rosa gasped awake at that final shot of memory, a memory that she had long struggled to stop remembering...one that permanently traumatized her for the years that followed... "Oh, god..." she uttered in the bare silence of the unlit cave, before burying her face in her paws, quiet tears streaking from her face. "Why...why, of all people..." 

_...huh? Who is that I hear...crying...?_

The ice wolf struggled with himself to try to awaken, somehow sensing the forbidden tears from the one that shared his heart, mysteriously leak into his very being. 

_No, it can't be..._

He slowly raised his eyes open, glancing toward the silent red mate, and gaped at the sight that he thought he would never see again. 

_You're...crying?_

He wrapped one paw around the mute, sobbing lupine, which slightly startled her, and caused the winged wolf to slowly eye her worried lover. 

"What's wrong?"   
"I...I remembered...everything...long ago..." 

It was all that he needed to know, for he could also recall that 'certain' memory as she did. Rosa simply sunk her head down on Tiger's body, her tears now streaking down to his fur... He could only nuzzle her emotionally wounded mate and share her scar with his own... 

The two remained cuddled to each other, as sunrise began to seep into the darkness of their shelter, and closed their eyes to sleep away the memories... 

*** 

"What the..."   
Hare gazed curiously into the dark cavern, his search now over, and peered at his sleeping rival...along with a winged lupine that he failed to recognize. "So you're here after all, Tiger....but who are you with?"   
_Well, this is interesting, _the sly rabbit thought to himself. _Seems he's got a girlfriend...Wait until I tell the others!_   


***   
__ __

_Inside chocolate_   
_Is the sweetness of desire_   
_Is the desire of ecstasy_   
_Is the fuel for my fire.___

_Inside candy_   
_Is the joy of the sweet_   
_Is the remedy for bitterness_   
_Is the power of my heat.___

_Inside you_   
_Is the unlimited cheerfulness_   
_Is the unbound intelligence_   
_Is the element that springs away my loneliness._ __

  
__   


**Yeah yeah, this part is not as long as I wanted it to be...but trust me, everything WILL be settled in the next part...Me promises! ^_~** 


End file.
